• The channel is running an active, open-source effort to mirror the entire Nature (≈40 GB) and ScienceDirect archives by scripting wget and Perl’s WWW::Mechanize to spoof Googlebot user-agents and exploit predictable PDF-URL patterns, while noting that ScienceDirect now appends dynamic MD5 tokens that must be reverse-engineered to sustain the crawl.

• Participants reject Richard Dawkins’ claim that DNA is “pure information” that can be e-mailed and later rebuilt, arguing that epigenetics, cellular machinery, and developmental context are indispensable; they extend this critique to the term “junk DNA,” citing ENCODE evidence that non-coding regions form an active, multifunctional regulatory ecosystem.

• A live DIY-neurotech thread covers low-cost EEG via OpenEEG, upcoming Emotiv headsets, subvocal EMG for silent-speech input, and a proposed tDCS/tACS build using PCB electrodes and saline-soaked sponges, with explicit calls for electrical-safety validation and current-limiting circuits.

• Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is debated as a force that turns the traditional “tree of life” into a reticulated network; a 2008 GeneTrace study showing ~40 000 HGT events and ~90 000 gene losses alongside 600 000 vertical transfers is cited as empirical support.

• Members question whether existing mathematics is adequate for modeling whole-brain computation, noting that neuroscience and computer science have been “on the verge” of convergence for decades without decisive breakthroughs, and warn that self-experimentation in biology or neurotech carries irreversible risks.